A partial explanation of time. An artile on space (place) &c. will be posted later.
The Good as Food and Drink
Intending, previously, to discourse about the Good as true Food, and Drink, and Time, and Place, and also as Rest, let us do so. Nutrition is the providence to and appropiation by the body for growth, or in other words, nourishment is the enabling of growth. As we, every moment, paradoxically grow more in some ways, as is natural, but decay in others, which is unnatural, we have constant need of another, as said just now and more extensively prior, to sustain our own health. And health itself, in turn, is good growth. Now, already, how the Good is the only true Food in relation to the mind should be apparant, since without Its noëtic rays nothing would be knowable, and reason would be darkened. But we must affirm the Good is also the only true Food in relation to the body as well, a Food Which never fails—although, it needs be said, in this age even if we taste It, as some will, he will still die at the appointed time, even though he no longer hungers. For those initiated, those great seas of light in the deserts should be remembered, who no longer needed any other food, and ate only a little cabbage on Saturday & Sunday for the sake of others. Why it is that men who are fed by the Good are still permitted to die is known to the initiated, which I will not say here. At any rate, as the Good brought the body into existence, it has its existence in the Good, Which is its natural abode—being the only true Living, inexhaustible, subject to no loss, and possessing all life in Itself, freely giving by means of participation. For if food, as said, is that which enables growth, then it will be adundently apparant the Good Which caused all things to exist, and sustains them into well-being, is Food—not, as earthly food is, by division of Itself, or loss of a part, or by means of a disessential fruit (although indeed by a coessential Fruit), or by destruction, i.e. conversion into another substance, but rather converting those which eat of it into Itself, without annihilating the substance It created, and uniting all with all in Itself, the All in all.
But the Good is also true Drink. For drink is required not only as the means of nutriments’ motion, but also refreshment & cleansing. In our condition, our blood is never perfectly clean, as our whole world is subject to imperfection, and so something unclean remains in us. Therefore the watery part of our blood becomes spent, i.e., is overcame. Water is cleansing, but we all, I think, have seen contaminated water, expired water, and encountered stains difficult if not impossible to wash. In a word, these things overcome water by means of its weakness. But things weak must participate in strength to have only a limited or failing share. As the Good participates in nothing, simply existing in Itself, It is absolutely unovercomable by anything, possessing superesstially, as Living, and the only true Purity, a power of refreshment, as bestowing a portion of Its own life indivisibly, and cleansing, as the Distributer of each things own being. Likewise, again, as the true Living, creatures move by virtue of being set in motion by the Good, and have their motion sustained by It as Mover. Wherefore, the Good is the only true Drink, since It is also, as said, the only true Food, Which sustains all beings in all ways.
The Good as Time
Now let us turn to the question of the Good as the true Time. Time is, as is said, the measurement of change, i.e. the numeric measurement of the intermediary period from the origin of an activity to its consumation. For every action is considered with the actor & acted in mind as beginning & end, and so the procession of activity to actualized is virtually divided, and by neccesity the consumation will be greater than the origin, and the intermediary state will be greater than the origin but lesser than the consumation, as it is only a partial actualizatio. Further, the great confessor of Truth says:
Every being whose self-limitation is intrinsic to it is by nature the origin of the activity perceived as potentially present within it. Every natural activity in the process of actualization—and such activity is, on the conceptual level, sequent to the being itself but prior to its own actualization—is an intermediary state, since by nature it lies between the being in which it is present potentially and its own actualization. Every actualization, limited as it naturally is by its own inner principle, is the consummation of that activity which has its origm in the being and which, conceptually speaking, precedes the actualization.
And again:
Origin, the intermediary state and consummation characterize things divided by time, as indeed they characterize things existing in the æon. For time, by which change is measured, is defined numerically; while the æon, whose existence presupposes a ‘when’, possesses dimensionality, since its existence has an origin. And if time and the æon have an origin, how much more so will those things that exist within them.
Some say time has no beginning, but this betrays the definition of time as the measure of change, since every action of change must have its actor as origin. Further, some say time has no end, but again this beteays its definition, since it will have the consumation of the action, i.e. the actualization, measured as end. What, then, of eternity? Some say it is endless time, but this again is wrong as said. Some say it signifies all of time, and this is closer, but all of time would simply be the completion of it, i.e. its consumation. So, then, as the consumation of time must be greater than the time it consumates, by the same reason that an actualization is greater than its intermediary state, eternity cannot be said to be time, or, rather, it must be said that time is the division of eternity, even as that which it measures is the virtual divisions of an activity’s actualization. In other words, eternity must be the presence of all time at once.
Now as all existing things acting must have their existence previously actualized to have essential activity, and indeed their action must be sustained, and their actualization must be grounded, by reason that they do not truly possess their own being as principle for their activity but, again, they exist by means of participation, we must turn to the only true Act in Which they participate and Which was never in need of suffering actualization, i.e. the Good. Without totally casting forth the Divine mysteries, I must say, briefly, how the Good is even Act, since, as said, every action is considered with actor & acted in mind, but, also, as I said, the Good remains alone actual yet unactualized. To speak cryptically, then, but hopefully sufficiently, and as alluded to previously, the Good is not absolutely alone in Itself, but, always, It exists & coexists with two cosuperesssential Flowers, so to say, Which shine forth from It as Their Font. How this can be is ineffable & inconceivable. At any rate, there being a plurality in the Good, which by no means compromises Its unity, since It’s at any rate before all number—yet it must be said These Flowers & Font I’ve mentioned are not merely in view of whats known of the Good, but are more fundamental to It, being They Who share both in Themselves, i.e. the cosuperessential Flowers shooting forth in the Good are not Its superessential activities, but rather their & the whole superessentiality’s mode of being. Returning, then, to what I was saying, the Good not being alone in Itself actualizes from Itself among these These Flowers, like, as the sacred hymns say, a three-Sunned Radiance. To put it more clearly, the Font in the Good actually exists & coexists with the Its Flower, and Their actual coexistence actually exists & coexists with the second Flower. Both Flowers, then, actually exist & coexist with each Other, and Their actual coexistence actually exists & coexists with Their Font. Thus the Good will be seen to be the only true Eternity, and Pre-eternity. But now as the Good suffers no division—and that which has been described is by no means division, since the Flowers, as cosuperessentially springing forth from the Good Itself, cannot be separated by anything—Its activity cannot be measured, since at any rate It’s utterly changeless, unoriginate, and infinite.
How, then, shall we celebrate It as Time and Appointed Time? For no one, I think, is unaware of Its celebration as the Ancient of Days, in relation to Its already explained eternity and pre-eternity, nor as Sun of Righteousness, and hence as Day and the only true Day. Nor can we neglect Its celebratory description as appearing as a young man, of course in relation to Its incorruption. But let us focus on It as Time & Day. As said time is the intermediary period between beginning & end, and as anyone skilled in arithmetic knows the means is, so to say, greater than the whole, being its judge, like the balance of a beam of scales. Likewise, the Good, being both the End and Judge of all things, is again the sustaining Ground of all things’ change. For if we do not say It is Time not as subject to division but as Ground of all times, then we will neccesarily have to say something else is. But what, other than the Good, could be the Ground of the actual change of Its participants? This would be to really divide the Good, since existent things would have to depart from It, as if It had limitations, into another principle to be sustained. Anyways, so too does it follow the Good will be the Day as Appointed Time of all existent things, since It is their true Beginning & End, shining Its superessential rays over all, always being risen, and never setting, since It does not become to raise or set, but truly is.